Olympic Games 2012: the Opening Ceremony

Olympic Games 2012: the Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony is a celebration showcasing the best of the Host Nation. It also features a parade of all competing nations and the highly anticipated entrance of the Olympic Flame, which ignites the Cauldron and signals the start of the Games.

The eyes of the world will be on London for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The Ceremony will provide an opportunity for the world to view the artistic expression of the Artistic Director (Danny Boyle) and his team, and the culture of our Host City and the UK. There are certain elements that must feature in every Ceremony, as outlined in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) charter. The artistic performance of the Ceremony then gets underway and welcomes the world to the London 2012 Games.

The name of the Olympic Opening Ceremony show will be ‘Isles of Wonder’ and the worldwide broadcast will commence at 9pm. The Ceremony will kick off with the sound of the largest harmonically tuned bell in Europe, produced by the Whitechapel Foundry, and the Stadium will be transformed into the British countryside for opening scene ‘Green and Pleasant’, which includes real farmyard animals. The Ceremony will also include a special sequence celebrating the best of British, featuring volunteer performers from the NHS.

Danny Boyle, Artistic Director of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, said: ‘Our Isles of Wonder salutes and celebrates the exuberant creativity of the British genius in an Opening Ceremony that we hope will be as unpredictable and inventive as the British people.’

The Olympic and Paralympic Opening Ceremonies are being developed by world-class directors Danny Boyle, Bradley Hemmings and Jenny Sealey and their teams.

Executive producers

The Executive Producers overseeing the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are:

Stephen Daldry CBE

Executive Producer, Creative (Chairman)

Stephen began his career at the Sheffield Crucible where he directed various award winning productions. He has won innumerable awards on Broadway as well as the West End. Daldry made his feature film directorial debut with Billy Elliot. His next film was The Hours followed by The Reader. Stephen has received an Academy Award nomination for all three of his films. His stage musical adaptation of Billy Elliot, with music by Elton John, opened in London in 2005. The production opened on Broadway in 2007, winning 10 Tony Awards and is the most honoured British production in the history of the American theatre.

Mark Fisher

Executive Producer, Production Design

Mark is an architect with an international reputation for creating spectacular live entertainment. He has designed some of the most memorable rock concerts ever staged, including ‘The Wall’ for Pink Floyd, every Rolling Stones show since 1989, and every U2 concert since 1992. He also designed the theatre, scenery and acrobatic effects for Cirque du Soleil’s ‘KÀ’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and the opening and closing ceremonies for both the 2006 Turin Winter Games and 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Receiving the Head of State

The Head of State of the Host Country is received at the entrance of the Olympic Stadium by the President of the IOC. For the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, Her Majesty the Queen will be greeted by Jacques Rogge.

Parade of Athletes

A procession of the participating teams in the Stadium, nation by nation. Teams enter in alphabetical order, according to the language of the Host Country, apart from the Greek team, which enters first for the Olympics, and the team of the Host Nation (in this case Team GB), who march in last.

Speeches

Once all the nations have arrived into the Stadium, LOCOG Chair Seb Coe will give a speech, followed by Jacques Rogge. They will end their speeches by inviting the Head of State to officially declare the Games open.

Olympic Anthem and Flag

Once the Games have been declared open, the Olympic Flag is then carried into the Stadium and hoisted into the air as the respective Anthem is played. The Olympic Charter states that each flag must fly for the entire duration of the Games – placed in a prominent position in the main Stadium.

Oaths

A participating athlete, judge and coach from the Host Nation stand on the rostrum and, holding a corner of the IOC flag in their left hand and raising their right, take the Oath, vowing to compete and judge according to the rules of their respective sport,.

The Torch and Cauldron

The big finale is the entrance of the Olympic Flame into the Stadium. It is passed through the athletes to the final Torchbearer, who will ceremoniously light the Cauldron, indicating the beginning of the Games. The Flame will continue to burn for the whole of the Games.

Creative team

A host of world-class British directors and producers are leading the artistic team to stage the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Performers

A total cast of 15,000 will take part in the London 2012 Opening and Closing Ceremonies, which will be watched by an estimated audience of four billion.

Performers included Rowan Atkinson in a comedy sequence with the London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web), Sir Paul McCartney, Kenneth Branagh as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and Her Majesty the Queen, as herself, in a scene with James Bond (Daniel Craig) shot at Buckingham Palace.

The volunteer cast of 7,500 from all over world gave up their evenings and weekends to take part in a total of 284 rehearsals at two east London rehearsal sites and at the Stadium. On average, adult volunteers rehearsed for 150 hours each.

The child volunteers were drawn from 25 schools in the six east London Host Boroughs. The 170 16–18 year olds, from six colleges in the Host Boroughs, speak more than 50 languages between them.

http://www.london2012.com

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